Skybound
by airbornetyler
Summary: Nineteen years after the climax of Airborn, Matt's son Tom wants the same life of adventures his dad had. Tom is convinced that a dangerous saboteur is on the loose, and is determined to keep the Aurora skybound
1. The Aft Engine Car

The elevators creaked downward and tank by tank the ballast hit the pavement and the airship rose up above the Lionsgate streets. My father had said that it was the place of his first take of and I swore I would make it mine too. And now here I was, on the giant luxury ship _Aurora._ My grandfather's airship, my father's airship and now mine. I was thrilled.

"Up Ship!" chorused the ground crew as we ascended above Lionsgate city, in route for Sydney, where we would go the short way back to Canada.

"All right ma'am?" I asked a woman who had obviously been expecting something much worse. The _Aurora_ had never had a rough flight. My dad said I didn't even fly rough when the pirates took her over, nineteen years ago. After his expedition into space, aboard the wonderful _Starclimber, _my father decided to return to Paris and graduate the academy. Now here he was, captain of his very own airship. My father wanted to get me a job as sail maker, but I said I wanted to work my may up, like everybody else in my family. Now here I was, serving fresh croissants. The rich can never get enough of those. I hoped to make lots of friends amongst the other cabin crew. I had already made friends with my dad's friends son, Aaron. His dad Baz was a good friend of my dad and was my dad's roommate aboard the _Aurora_. He was married to a beautiful woman named Teresa. My dad was the best man.

" Morning Mr. Cruse. How do you like the ship?" asked the chief steward, Mr. Lisbon. He had stuck with the ship since my dad was my age.

"Great sir! She's everything I hoped for." I replied enthusiastically, and he chuckled.

"You are you're father through and through, Tom. He had the same enthusiasm." he told me and now it was my turn to grin. I loved being compared to my dad. I wished I would have the adventures he had.

The smell of baking bread and roasting bacon brought me back to my senses, and so I began to stroll between the tables, taking orders and serving pancakes, pouring orange juice and cleaning spilt milk. I was finally at home.

My mother Kate stayed home with my younger brother and sisters Abigail and Ethan. They had a large house in Lionsgate only a street away from my grandmother's house. Aunt Isabel also lived in Lionsgate where she taught music at a public school on King's Park Boulevard, while Aunt Sylvia worked in a downtown clothing store that sold dresses and suits aplenty.

Finally, at least three hours after the beginning of breakfast, the passengers headed off to the cinema, or the lounge or staterooms. I was left wiping off tables. I couldn't of felt better.

Two Years Later

If I had thought that serving breakfast was the best part of the _Aurora_, I was wrong. I hadn't been in the crows nest yet. The stars were spread around me, showing me a fantastic view of the skies above. I had never seen this many stars in Lionsgate City, or the moon so bright. But something was wrong. A smell of something burning was crawling up the ladder, and I knew it wasn't baking pastries. Worried voices were echoing through the speaking tube, and running footsteps rang on the corridor below. Throwing the spyglass into the holder, I descended the rungs of the ladder with as much speed as I dared. At the bottom, I stopped a sail maker and asked him what was the matter.

"Prop in the aft starboard engine car went wild, cut through a cable, which began to spark and is going to ignite the Aruba fuel, which could spread across the entire ship." he sounded extremely worried. Then he ran off in the direction of the car. I followed.

Crew were gathered around the engine car, but none could go in, it was to dangerous. My dad was there too and I knew that he was thinking of some fantastic plan to get us through this.

"Dad!" I called. " What are we going to do?" He looked troubled when he answered.

"Somebody is going to have to enter the engine car and kill the master switch. Problem is, it's way to dangerous to sent someone in their. Plus, I doubt anybody could move around in their quickly, it's too small. Everybody except…" And he looked right at me.

" I'll do it Dad!" I told him, but he just smiled.

" It's to risky." he replied.

" You swung on the davit arm and into that balloon gondola! I can step into the engine car and flick a switch!' I replied. " You can trust me!"

" All right. But you be careful and don't stop for anything in that car." he said sternly.

Moments later I was climbing down the ladder and into the engine car. The prop was gone and a pool of Aruba fuel had filled up to my knees. I waded my way over, looking for the master switch. With a start, I realised it was submerged in fuel. How would I get to it?

A loud snapping sound made me look up and see a severed cable, dangling feet from the surface of the fuel. I had to act quick before the hinge broke and it plunged into the engine car. Aruba Fuel was extremely flammable. Now how to get to that switch?

Another crack, and then a splash. I looked up and saw that a screw had came of the hinge, leaving it hanging their by only one loose screw. I looked franticly around for something to hit that switch.

"Crack!" I had to act fast. Then I saw it. A long pipe, hanging loosely from the roof of the car. It must have connected the prop to the car. I pulled franticly at it, praying for it to give way.

" Come On!" I shouted, as the cable cracked yet again. Finally the pipe came loose. Brandishing it like a sword, I swung at the switch. The pipe made impact literally a split second before the cable made one final crack and came off the hinge, splashing in the water. It took about a minute for my voice to return.

" I'm ok!" I shouted up to the crew, and I heard them let out a loud cheer.

Minutes later, I was dripping Aruba fuel onto the catwalk as I told the crew exactly what had happened. When I was done, I went back up to my bunk and changed out of my fuel soaked clothes.

" What happened?" Aaron asked but I just replied. " A lot man. I'll tell you in the morning."


	2. Sabotage

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from this story, they are the FANTASTIC creations of Kenneth Oppel.**

Chapter 2- Sabotage

_Aaron didn't believe _me at first, until he went to throw his dirty shirt into the laundry hamper. It wasn't everyday that your roommate soaked his T-shirt in fuel. My wristwatch told me that it was 7:00. I had lounge duty until eight, when the passengers would be in the dining room having the Eggs Benedict and bacon and home fries and French toast and whatever else their hearts desired.

Grabbing my tie and fumbling with it as I went, I headed down the keel catwalk to the passenger decks. The smell of cooking breakfast was even strong amongst the smell of mangoes and fuel. The lounge wouldn't be to packed, the passengers always made it customary to sleep at least 12 hours aboard the _Aurora_. The crew had been up before five having their breakfast. I had gotten so used to it that back at home I would have to get up at five and have a bowl of cereal and some toast before my mother even opened her eyes.

The lounge was practically abandoned, except for a man in the corner who was reading last week's _Lionsgate Prophet _. I could distinctly read the headline "Saboteur aboard the Spirit." Of course I had heard of that. The airship _Ocean Sprit_ had been sabotaged and brought down into the streets of London when it's envelope had been deliberately set on fire. The reason for, or culprit was still unknown. Absolutely no evidence. The _Aurora_ had to have extreme precautions taken to make sure no unwanted characters hitched a ride.

The minutes went on and nobody came in. Finally I took a book from my coat pocket and began reading. The clock above the drink counter chimed every fifteen minutes. The fourth chime was more of a song, and seconds later another cabin boy, Alex Emihalo came in to replace me.

"Three seconds late Alex!" I joked.

" See ya Tom!" he said with a laugh.

Back in the passenger deck corridor, I headed down towards the stern and to the aft starboard engine car. I wanted to see the reason why the propeller had gone crazy like that. The ladder leading down to it was surrounded with florescent warning tape which I ducked under. I knew I wasn't supposed to be here, but like a Pandora's Box curiosity got the better of me.

Wind hit my face from the spot where the propeller should have been. . The pole that I had used last night was on the floor, and as I picked it up, a chill crept up my spine. The pole had been purposely cut cleanly near the end. Sabotage! The cable had evidently been cut by hand, and the bracket in which it was held up by weakened. This was no accident. Even if it had been the propeller that had cut through it, that doesn't explain the Aruba fuel leakage. I found that pipe too, and it was, like the others sabotaged. And if that saboteur was behind this, he was still here. The _Aurora_ could have gone down like the _Ocean Sprit_.

"Dad! DAD!" I shouted while pounding on his cabin door. " Dad it's important!" When he finally opened the door, he gasped in surprise to see that I was holding the electric cable and the pipe from the engine car.

"What is it Tom?" he asked worriedly, and I hurriedly explained.

" And so the guy who blew up the _Sprit_ is trying to do the same to the _Aurora_!" I finished, and thrust the cable and pipe into his hands.

" Tom, how did you find this out? You didn't…"

" Yes I went in the engine car, but that's not the point! What are we going to do?" I asked, waiting for my dad's calm and helpful advice.

" We are going to go about or business and head to Sydney as planned. Look, this cut was clearly by the propeller, as it's more jagged than any other instrument capable of cutting through this cable. It's a good thing that Mr. Tursely wasn't in the car when this happened. We have little evidence that this was in fact a sabotage attempt and even if we did, the passengers would find out and we would alert the saboteur himself, if there is one. He would become very violent and we can't afford that."

He smiled, and for a moment I was ready to think he was right. But I knew that this was more than a propeller failure and I was determined to prove it.


	3. The Ocean Sprit

Chapter 3- The Ocean Sprit

_The days past by _and nothing much happened. I was already dismissing my fears of an incapacitate to be my imagination. Why, after all, would somebody think of destroying the _Aurora_? But why would they destroy the _Ocean Sprit_? Someone obviously did not approve of something the _Sprit_ had been doing. But what? I was determined to at least find that out.

I headed down to the control car that evening when I had no shifts. It was, as usual, bustling with life. The steady chiming of the altimeter could be heard over the hum of instruments and the sound of chatter. Nobody noticed a young cabin boy working his way to the rear of the navigation room.

I found what I was looking for on a shelf with a bunch of old maps and navigation instruments that the chief navigator owned. I opened the giant filing cabinet that had records of almost every airship that existed. Finally I found the _Ocean Sprit_'s folder. I took the folder and hurried up the control car ladder one handed. By time I reached my room in the crew's quarters the sun was just disappearing over the horizon. I flicked on my reading light and settled into my bunk to read. The first part was just explaining when it was built and such. I knew that it had been a fairly successful airship and according to when the files said it was built it would have been ten years old when she crashed. I flip the pages until I found the file I was looking for.

Ocean Sprit_ took off from a small town with lots of cargo and passengers. She had a total of 24 passengers and another 20 crew. The captain, George Halliday had just been appointed to the job after the old captain retired._

_Ocean Sprit was carrying prototype for a new weapon called the SWIFT, an advanced weaponry system to be used to tunnel and clear large expanses of area._

_The _Sprit_ radioed in to Lionsgate city after a successful flight to Colorado and California. But above Lionsgate, fifteen minutes later, an airship in Lionsgate received a garbled distress call, stating that a fire had started and that they were going down. Out of the 44 passengers aboard, only 23 survived, 13 passengers and 10 crew. The distress call was captured on recording. This is what it sounds like:_

" _Lions..te major…rgency… fire, cargo holds… swi…t… Sabo..ge…ttept…Man…ump…ith…aruchute…etting…ay… Ocean… prit… oing… down, over."_

_The recording proves that the fire started in the cargo holds and the message was transmitted awhile after the fire started as it states that that the fire brought the ship down. Later examination of the airship confirms that the fire started at the cargo holds. It has been proven to be sabotage. Another prototype of the SWIFT is being built in a secret area believed to be located in Lionsgate city. The _Ocean Sprit _no known enemies and nobody knows the reason for the attack. He is believed to be dead._

The document ended here, and I was left with even more questions than before. But one thing was answered. The saboteur had been trying to destroy SWIFT. But there was still one out there. I had to find out where.


	4. Rudder Problems

Rudder Problems

_I threw the document_ onto the nightstand and switched off the light when I heard Aaron's footsteps along the corridor outside. I figured that if he found out that I was still awake there would be too many questions to answer. Aaron entered the room, and jumped into bed without bothering to change out of his work clothes. We both lay in silence for a while, when suddenly, a shudder filled through the ship. Aaron was already asleep, so I crept out of the cabin and into the corridor to investigate the noise. Another shudder sent me running to the stern of the ship, where the noise was coming from.

Nobody else seemed to have heard the noise, for the corridors leading to the auxiliary control room were deserted. I climbed up a ladder and into the crow's-nest. I lifted the hatch and peered out.

Wind wiped at my face as I looked in shock at the rudder. A large cable hung from the rudder. It had no doubt been snapped, leaving the controls to the rudder useless. What more, a large cloud of nimbus lay ahead and a strong gust of wind buffeted the ship. With no controls, the _Aurora_ was like a child's balloon in the wind. The ship turned sharply and completely out of control. I grabbed the speaking tube, but before I could say a word, a loud siren filled the ship, as the crew was finally aware of the danger. Our only chance was to manually repair the rudder, and before we came crashing down into the ocean.

I bolted down the ladder and tore across the catwalk, towards the crew already setting out onto the ship's elevators. I followed, clipped on a safety harness and opened up a hatch. I clambered onto the elevator to see how much damage had been down. It looked bad.

Another gust of wind sent the ship spiraling around like a horizontal Ferris-wheel. Screams were heard from inside the ship. I felt like screaming myself, for down below the ocean was getting closer and closer… 


End file.
